Savings-bank.



PATENTED APR. 21, 1903.

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UNITED STATES,

ATENT FFICE.

THOMAS WILLIAM MILLS AND JOHN ERNEST CUNNINGHAM, OF KINGSTON,

CANADA.

SAVINGS- BANK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of'Letters Patent No. 725,858, dated April21, 1903.

Application filed June 5, 1902.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS WILLIAM MILLS and JOHN ERNEST CUNNLNGHAM,bankers, of the city of Kingston, in the county of Frontenac, in theProvince of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Savings-Banks, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to improvements in savings-banks which arespecially intended for home use and are issued by bankers or banks totheir customers to assist them in saving their money; and the object ininventing this bank is to make a savings-bank which shall be extremelycheap and simple in construction and from which it will be absolutelyimpossible to extract either coins or paper money which may have beeninserted therein Without having access to the bank by means of a key orother lock; and it consists, essentially, of a box having a suitabledoor provided in one of its sides and a slot sufficiently large to admitthe largest coin and an opening for inserting bills, means beingprovided for preventing the withdrawal of the coins or the-bills afterhaving beeninserted in the bank, the various parts being constructed andarranged in detail, as hereinafter more particularly described.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of one-half of our savings-bank, beingcut through the middle on the line X X, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a transversesection of our savings-bank on the line Y Y, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detailperspective view of the means for preventing the removal of coins fromthe bank. Fig. 4. is a detail of the tube for preventing the removal ofbills with the auxiliary pivotal tooth. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectionalview'of the tube through which bills are introduced.

In the drawings like letters of reference indicate corresponding partsin each figure.

A is the box or casing for the bank, and this casing may be of a varietyof forms, whether square, oblong, cylindrical, or any othersuitableshape, the form shown, however, being the one which we considerpref-v erable. A handle a may be provided on the a is a door which issecured by hinges in oneof the sides or one of the ends-or the bot-$erial No. 110,356. (No model.)

tom of the box and may be locked by any suitable means.

For the sake of clearness throughout the specification and claims theend a of the box will be referred to as the forward end and the end awill be called the rear end.

An opening B is formed in the box, preferably at the rear end, and thisopening may be of any suitable form, though it is preferably circular. Atube 1) extends inwardly fromthe holeor orifice B and is provided at itsinner end with inwardly-pointing teeth I). In Fig. 4 an auxiliary toothb is shown on the tube 1), the said tooth being suitably pivoted at b tothe upper side of the tube?) and depends through a slot b into the tube.The tube 1) is preferably curved, as shown, in order to make itmoredifiicult and. practically impossible to insert any instrumenttherethrough to remove the paper money from the bank.- It will thus beseen that a bill may be folded tightly and passed through the tube 1)into the bank; but once it is past or any portion of it is past theteeth 6 it cannot be Withdrawn from the bank without tearing ormutilating the bill to such an extent as to render it worthless.

O is a slot formed in the upper portion of a side or end of the box. Ashelfor platform 0 extends inwardly from the slot 0, the inner end .ofthe said shelf being preferably at a distance from the rear end of theboxjust equal to or slightly greater than the diameter of the largestcoin for which the bank will be used.

c is a second shelf or platform, which is slightly lower than the shelf0, the distance between these shelves at their nearest point being justsufficient to permit the thickest coin passing freely between them. Theshelf 0 extends from the back of the bank, or, in other words, from theend of the bank opposite to the slot 0 toward the forward end of thebank and is preferably sloped downwardly. Between the shelf 0 and theshelf 0 a plate 0 is provided, thus forming with the shelf 0 an innerpassage or chute 0 through which the coins will pass. This chuteterminates, preferably, at a distance from the front end of the boxslightly greater than half the diameter of the largest coin which willbe used in the bank. A lip c is formed completely around theoutlet ofthe chute D is a tube or bottomless bag which may be made of anysuitable flexible material, but is preferably made of very light silk.This flexible tube is secured over the outlet 0 by suitable means, suchas a cord a", passing around the outside of the chute behind the lip 0It will thus be seen that a coin may be inserted in the slot 0, and bytilting the forward end of the bank first upwardly and then downwardlythe coin will slide in along the platform cand drop onto the shelf 0'and will then slide back through the chute o and the tube D, thusdropping to the floor or bottom of the bank. The tube or bottomless bagD makes it absolutely impossible to shake a coin back into the chute 0for if the bank be reversed bottom side up the coin will simply drop onthe bag and force it into the corner between the opening 0 and the frontof the bank, thus completely closing the opening 0 In order to make theclosure of the opening doubly secure, a swinging weight (1 may besuspended near the flexible tube D, either inside or outside, bysuitable means, so that if the bank be reversed the said weight willfall either in front of the hole or behind it, carrying the flexibletube with it, and thus completely covering the hole.

It may be mentioned that the object in view in constructing the passageor chute as above is chiefly to prevent the insertion of a hooked orV-shaped instrument for the pur-' pose of holding open the flexible tubewhile the coins are being removed from the bank. It will be noticed thatthe distance between the the edge of the shelf 0 and the rear end of thebank is considerably less than the distance from the edge of the saidshelf to the opening 0 It will thus be seen that if a V-shapedinstrument having a short and a long end were inserted through the slot0 the small end could not be greater than the distance from the end ofthe shelf 0 to the rear of the box; but this length would obviously betoo short to reach the end of the shelf 0 to the opening 0 andconsequently the flexible tube could not be held open by such aninstrument to enable coins to be removed.

It will now be seen that we have invented a bank from which it will beimpossible to remove either coins or paper money; but although in thedrawings we have shown the form of the apparatus which we considerpreferable it is to be understood that a considerable number of changesmay be made in the details of the device without departing from thespirit of our invention. For example, the inwardly-extending tube 13might be placed in any suitable part of the bank and not in the exactposition shown in the drawings. Also this tube might be made angularinstead of curved. The position of the device for preventing the removalof coins might also be varied.

Another variation which might be made in the construction would be tohave the door formed in the bottom of the bank instead of the side, asshown, and in this case the side piece 0 would be close up to the sideof the box.

Although the device at the front of the bank is intended chiefly toprevent the removal of coins therefrom, it will be understood that thisdevice may be used toprevent the removal of bills or other money orcar-fares from afare-box,and the curved tube at the rear end of the boxcould be used for preventing the removal of any articles--such ascar-tickets, ballots, or the likefrom receptacles.

Although we have described our invention as relating particularly tosavings-banks, it is to be understood that the same device may beapplied to other receptacles-such as mailbags, ballot-boxes, fare-boxes,and the like withoutexceeding the scope of our invention.

What we claim as our invention is- 1. In a device of the classdescribed, the combination with the receptacle having an orifice in oneof the Walls thereof, of a rigid tube of circular cross-sectionextending inwardly from the orifice, and a circular row of integralteeth on the inner end of said tube, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the class described the combination with thereceptacle having an orifice formed in one of its walls, of a rigid tubeof circular cross-section extending inwardly from said orifice andhaving a circular row of inwardly-pointing teeth formed integraltherewithat its inner extremity, and having a slot formed'in its upperside, a pointed tooth pivotally secured to the upper side of said tubeand designed to depend through said slot into said tube as and for thepurpose specified.

3. In a device of the class described the combination with thereceptacle having aslot and a flexible tube therein for preventing theremoval of coins or other articles contained in the receptacle throughthe slot, of means interposed between the slot and the flexible tube forpreventing the insertion of an instrument into the flexible tube as andfor the purpose specified.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination with a receptaclehaving a slot formed on one of its walls,of a chute extending from saidslot to the opposite end of the receptacle and a return-chute extendingfrom the rear end of the receptacle to a point in proximity to theforward end thereof, said return-chute being substantially parallel withthe first-mentioned chute and a tube of flexible material secured overthe inner mouth of said return-chute as and for the purpose specified.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with a receptaclehaving a slot formed in one of its walls in proximity to the top of thereceptacle, of a shelf extending IIO from the lower edge of said slottoward the opposite end of the receptacle, said shelf beingapproximately parallel to the top of the receptacle, and a lower shelflocated below said upper shelf and being approximately parallel thereto,said lower shelf extending from the rear end of the receptacle towardthe forward end thereof, thus forming a returnchute beneath the uppershelf, the distance between the rear end of the receptacle and the rearedge of the upper shelf being less than the distance between the rearedge of the upper shelf and the forward end of the lower shelf, and aflexible tube secured over the opening at the end of said chute as andfor the purpose specified.

6. A savings-bank comprising a box hav-

